8.6 million speeding points on driving licences

Published:08:00Friday 18 August 2017

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New analysis by Churchill Car Insurance reveals there are over 11.6 million penalty points currently held on the licences of British drivers, with 74 per cent of them (8.6 million) related to speeding offences.

These speeding penalties are spread across Britain’s 40 million driving licence holders, resulting from nearly 2.8 million incidents.

The analysis also shows that 1.2 million points have been issued for insurance offences, such as driving without cover.

Nearly half a million points have been issued for construction and use offences, which cover a large group of offences concerned either with the condition a vehicle is kept in or something that has been done to a vehicle that makes it unsafe. These offences include using a vehicle with defective tyres, steering or speedometer.

When looking at the reason for incurring penalty points, exceeding the statutory speed limit on a public road accounted for the greatest number of offences, with 7.2 million points resulting from 2.3 million incidents. Exceeding the speed limit on a motorway saw drivers incur a total of 1,188,025 points from 376,000 incidents. Using a vehicle uninsured against third party risks resulted in 1,193,617 points being awarded following 192,000 incidents.

Steve Barrett, head of Car Insurance at Churchill, said: “Whilst the majority are responsible motorists, this analysis shows that there is still an alarming number of people making the roads an unnecessarily dangerous place for all other road users. We urge all drivers to be conscientious on our roads and be alert to the actions of others.

Barrett continued: “Some may perceive the extent of the repercussions of speeding as a fine and a telling off but the implications can be far more significant. As those who speed are more likely to crash, there are obvious safety concerns but this likelihood will also be reflected in higher car insurance premiums. For the sake of getting to your destination quicker the potential consequences are not worth the risk.”